WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. — For seven innings, it looked like Bryan College had authored one of the great comeback stories of this NAIA regional. Then the ninth inning happened.
With the Lions holding an 8–7 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, William Carey strung together three singles and watched DeeJay Booth deliver a two-run walk-off single up the middle to give the 19th-ranked Warriors a 9–8 victory — stunning the fourth-seeded Lions and keeping Carey's postseason hopes firmly alive in the Williamsburg bracket.
Booth finished with four hits in six at-bats and drove in two runs on the night, but none bigger than that final swing. After Tyler Ducksworth worked a leadoff walk and Gage Hinnant followed with a single, Alan McClean kept the line moving with a single through the right side to load the bases. Booth then laced a 0–2 pitch into center field to end it, sending the Warriors bench into a frenzy.
It was a gut-punch ending for Bryan, which had staged a remarkable rally of its own just innings before. Trailing 4–0 entering the sixth, the Lions erupted for seven runs in a single frame — the highlight of which was a
Cyrus Campos RBI double and a
Jayron Morris run-scoring single that pushed Bryan ahead 7–4.
Caleb Ramsey scored twice in the inning, and three walks by William Carey's bullpen helped fuel the uprising. A wild pitch by reliever Jackson Hawsey let another run cross without a swing.
William Carey briefly closed the gap in the seventh when Ducksworth launched a two-run home run to left-center, cutting it to 7–6. Bryan answered in the eighth with a
Will Curcio RBI single that scored Ramsey and restored the two-run cushion.
That lead, and those two runs, would not be enough.
Campos led Bryan offensively with three hits and an RBI, while Morris added two hits and a run batted in.
Denajh Williams chipped in an RBI single in the sixth as part of the Lions' decisive rally. But Bryan's pitching staff surrendered 17 hits in all, and starter
Tyler Gray struggled through three innings before giving way to a bullpen that ultimately could not hold the lead when it mattered most.
Gage Hinnant earned the win in relief for William Carey, working the final inning to improve to 2–0 on the season.
Ryan Ely took the loss for Bryan, falling to 1–1 after allowing three runs over two innings of work in the seventh and eighth.
William Carey advances to the championship in the Williamsburg bracket at. Bryan College faces an elimination game to keep its postseason alive. They will play the winner of Missouri Baptist and University of the Cumberlands.
